


One One Thousand

by girlwiththeblueumbrella



Category: Ready or Not (2019)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-19
Updated: 2020-03-19
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:14:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,717
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23212327
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/girlwiththeblueumbrella/pseuds/girlwiththeblueumbrella
Summary: A slightly different retelling of Ready or Not. Daniel and Grace make choices that lead to another outcome.
Relationships: Daniel Le Domas/Grace Le Domas
Comments: 8
Kudos: 175





	One One Thousand

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This honestly started out as a way to write down my head canon version of Ready or Not. I hope you enjoy it.

I’m so proud of you

Two one thousand

Two one thousand and a half

1) At the wedding (dancing)

“May I cut in?” Daniel asks. His hands are grabbing Grace’s back and right hand before Alex can protest. Within two beats of the song Grace has been waltzed away from her groom. Charity and Alex now left partner less join hands and twirl away from the new brother and sister-in-law.

“So Gracie Lou how does it feel to be a Le Domas? Everything you’ve hoped it would be?” Daniel slurs. 

As she inhales the sweet scent of bourbon radiating off of Daniel, Grace clutches his plum suit jacket and looks over her new brother-in-law. 

“I’ve never had a family before. I really don’t want to fuck this up. But judging how aunt Helene is looking at me, I might as well be a satanic worshipper” replies Grace.

It’s only for a brief moment but Grace sees the momentary flinch on Daniel’s face before he smoothly replies, “Gracie you’re not nearly the gold digging whore my wife is or as fucking stupid as Fitch. Plus you’ve added as much diversity as the Le Domas will allow. The first blonde in thirty years” Daniel laughed as he spun Grace around the dance floor.

“Daniel I wanted to--”

Before she could finish the song ended and Grace found her beloved was reaching for her. 

“Mrs. Le Domas may I have this dance?” Alex purred. Grace’s stomach flipped and she grabbed the hands of her groom. She was officially Mrs. Alex Le Domas. Years of dreaming and hoping for a family had all culminated in this moment. As she twirled away from Daniel, Grace couldn’t help but notice the difference between the two brothers. Despite being the older brother Daniel played the role of the fuck up well with his unshaven and sweaty face while Alex was clearly the polished golden child.

2) In the study

‘  
“I only came in for a drink”

As he opens the door to the study Daniel sees his sister-in-law for the first time since this horrifying game began. Grace’s dress is torn and he notices that she’s wearing yellow chucks instead of the heels she wore during their dance. When had she found the time to change shoes? 

The decanter feels heavy and familiar in his hand as Daniel pours the bourbon in the glass. As he extends the glass towards his new sister-in-law Daniel can’t help but notice how fast Grace’s chest is rising and lowering. She’s terrified. She should be. Grace doesn’t take the glass.

“I have to alert the others” Daniel states as he takes a long sip from the offered glass. Daniel had prayed to whatever god there was that this day would never come. He could still remember the last time they had played hide and seek. Daniel remembered standing in front of the armoire shielding Alex from the horror of their family. That must have been thirty years ago.

“You don’t have to do this” Grace pants while hyperventilating.

“I can give you a ten second head start” Daniel states while looking into his glass of bourbon as if the answer to all of the questions of the universe lay within the glass. The light from the fire flickers on the beautiful bride’s face as she takes a beat, two beats, and then three beats before running from the study.

“One one thousand”

“Two one thousand”

Daniel thinks of Alex looking at Grace like she’s the only way out of this horrifying familial destiny. 

“Two one thousand and a half”

Daniel thinks of his mother. He thinks of Alex . Daniel thinks of Emille’s stupid fucking decision to have children.

“SHE’S IN THE STUDY” Daniel crows into his bourbon. Hopefully Gracie is making her way towards Alex. Away from the darkness of the Le Domas family and into the arms of the only source of light this forsaken clan had. 

3) In the forest

“Déjà vu. Haven’t we already done this Gracie Lou?” Daniel slurs as he clutches his rifle to his chest.

Grace can feel her heart beat throbbing in sync with the gaping hole in her left hand. Her head is screaming from the car crash, her hand is still useless after meeting the little fucker known as Georgie, and her only source of refuge lays in the hands of her alcoholic brother-in-law. Daniel’s bow tie was undone, his dress shirt dressed in sweat, and he had an expression that Grace couldn’t quite read.

“You don’t want me to die Daniel. You’re a good guy” Grace pleaded into the dark.

“You know I came out here to escape the madness. And yet here you are. If anyone was going to save you it would have been Alex. He was the good one. I can’t let you kill my whole family” Daniel stated as he walked towards her. 

“Daniel you’re a good good guy. You can let me go” Grace cried.

“I’m weak Grace” Daniel whispered as he whipped the butt of his riffle into the bride’s temple. 

Grace’s world went dark as she felt a warm embrace around her waist.

“You can come out now” Daniel shouted to his father’s hidden figure.

4) In the hallway

He hadn’t known he was going to get Grace out. But the second Daniel heard Emille say “I’m so proud of you” to Georgie in the goat shed, he knew that all of the Le Domas deserved to die. If he happened to be the one to burn it all down, then so be it.

Slipping the hydrochloric acid into the ritual wine had been easy enough. Being the fuck up alcoholic had its perks. No one noticed when Daniel spent more time preparing the goblet than had been necessary. He wasn’t a hero. But as Daniel looked at little Gracie being tied down to the alter by his father and the fucking incompetent Fitch he knew he had do something. Grace was so little and so full of light compared to the gaping pool of hatred that the Le Domas family was. Even his own wife. Even Charity was frothing at the mouth to extinguish the light that was strapped down before them.

Daniel watched as the tainted goblet was passed among the circle. As he feigned a sip Daniel looked down at Grace. His little Gracie was a far cry from the blushing bride she had been a few hours ago. Grace’s dress was torn and covered in gore, her left hand had a seemingly hemorrhaging hole, and yet the bride was still struggling against her bindings. Charity in contrast was resplendent in her purple sacrificial robes. Why the fuck had he married her?

As soon as the Le Domas in the circle had begun to vomit blood Daniel worked to untie the bride. Despite his father’s best efforts Daniel found Grace’s bindings to come undone easily enough. However, Grace was swaying on her feet as he got her off the alter. Grabbing Grace by the shoulders Daniel pulled her out of the Music room and under a staircase in the foyer’s hallway. It wasn’t lost on Daniel how fucking absurd it was to have a foyer let alone a music room.

“I knew you’d help me” Grace whispered.

As Daniel looked upon the bride’s face he was struck by the fact that all of dirt and blood had only made Grace more striking. No wonder Alex had said she would be able to make him whole. Maybe Grace would be the one to finally be able to turn a Le Domas towards goodness instead of horror.

“I didn’t” Daniel replied honestly.

Time was running out as Daniel pulled Grace from out of the stairwell. He only had to get her out of the house till sunrise and then he could go find Alex. They could still have a chance. Someone in this god forsaken family could still be good. The front door was so close as Daniel pulled Grace towards freedom. Maybe there could be redemption in this moment before the curse took him. He deserved to die after what he had done to Charles. After what he had done to aunt Helene.

“Move Daniel” growled Charity.

As Daniel turned he saw his wife holding up a pistol he hadn’t known she owned. Charity managed to still look in control and refined despite the evening. Her dress glimmered amongst the light of the hallway and the blood on her cheek only added to her fortitude. 

“Baby you don’t have to do this” Daniel whispered. 

He positioned himself in front of Grace. There was no happy ending for Daniel. Daniel knew he deserved to suffer. He knew that his wife did too. But maybe this new bride could get out. Grace and Alex could live a life among the sun and help people instead of profiting on their suffering.

“You really don’t care if I die” Charity whimpered.

It was the first time Daniel had seen vulnerability in his wife since before they were married. Daniel had never wanted to get married but when a beautiful receptionist of the Le Domas dominion says she would rather sell her soul Lucifer himself than go back to her old life you tended to listen. On the night of their wedding Charity showed nothing but absolute poise as she pulled her card from Mr. Le Bail’s box. Daniel remembered how regal his frigid ice queen of a wife looked as she played chess with his family. How for that brief moment he thought they could be happy. He was wrong. Daniel was always fucking wrong.

The bullet ripped through Daniel’s shoulder before he heard the shot. It was quicker and less painful than he had imagined. Daniel felt the surge of warmth from his blood gushing out of his shoulder as he fell to the ground. He vaguely heard the struggle between two Le Domas’ brides before he saw little Gracie staring down at him. When had she become so beautiful? Not many brides could make blood and decay look as good as his sister-in-law did.

Daniel felt Grace’s tears falling on his face and shirt. He tried to move his legs but found them unresponsive. 

“Go” Daniel gritted out.

“Thank you” whispered Grace as she kissed his cheek and left him bleeding on the floor of the hallway. 

Daniel knew this was the end. He thought of Alex’s laugh as a kid. Daniel thought of Emillie’s paintings and how she dreamed of being a designer to the stars. Dark spots began to fill Daniel’s vision as he thought of the lullabies his mother sang to Alex and him.

Maybe Gracie would get out. If Daniel Le Domas did anything in his worthless and pathetic life maybe he got the person his beloved little brother loved most out. Perhaps there could be a different end to this love story than the horrific tragedy he had witnessed thirty years ago. Daniel Le Domas didn’t deserve a happy ending but Grace and Alex Le Domas certainly did.

5) In Mr. Le Bail’s Room

Grace couldn’t believe what was happening. As her limbs were held down by the family she had pledged to honor and love, Grace couldn’t help but look up at the man she loved. Alex had become a changeling right before her eyes. Gone was the mirth and kindness that normally filled her groom’s eyes. Instead Grace found something else. Alex looked down upon her like she was a stranger. Like she was nobody. Not like she was Mrs. Alex Le Domas.

As Grace struggled against her captors she pleaded with her eyes to her husband. She wanted him to remember how they met. At the dive bar by their university. Grace wanted to remind Alex of the eighteen month long bone-athon that was their love story. But Grace found no recognition of their love and instead found fear and desperation in her husband’s eyes as he held the dagger above her sternum.

“Hail Satan” chanted the Le Domas family.

In one final fuck you to the universe Grace clawed at Aunt Helene’s hand and managed to take a dagger to the shoulder instead of the heart. How funny it was that she was stabbed in the same place her brother-in-law was shot trying to save her.

Screaming and twisting Grace managed to untangle herself from the Le Domas. Letting out a banshee wail Grace waved the dagger that had momentarily been plunged into her shoulder towards her newly adopted family. Was it only just a few hours ago she had pleaded with god for this family’s acceptance? Grace could see the Le Domas family for what they really were now.

Emillie’s hands kept rubbing her nose trying to hide her most recent inhalation of cocaine. Fitch’s face gave way to the years of indulgence of alcohol and drugs. Aunt Helene’s severity and reverence for Mr. Le Bail showed a woman who had nothing else other than her faith. Tony’s face went from scarlet to a deep violet as he surged towards her. 

Finally, Grace saw her husband. Grace saw her Alex. The man that she had vowed to love and hold her through sickness and in health. Grace had always known she wasn’t good enough for him. But that didn’t matter. She had always thought that if she loved Alex enough it wouldn’t matter. If Grace loved Alex more than she loved herself it wouldn’t matter that she had grown up in foster homes, it wouldn’t matter that she couldn’t tell the difference between two buck chuck and Dom Perignon, and mostly it wouldn’t matter that she was a nobody because she loved a somebody. 

But as Grace looked into her betrothed’s eyes she saw none of the kindness and sincerity that she knew. Alex’s eyes were glittering with held back tears. Was that remorse in his eyes or a hint of hatred? Grace felt herself exhale as she saw the tendrils of light peaking from between the curtains of the room.

“Just let her fucking go. It’s too late. It’s all fucking over ” came a voice from across the room.

Grace tore her eyes from her golden husband and saw the black sheep of the Le Domas family. Daniel stood in the doorway covered in blood. His face was slick with sweat as he raised a rifle with his right arm. The barrel of the gun was pointed towards his father. Daniel’s left shoulder was still soiled with blood from the gun shot. 

“Daniel you’re alive?” Alex breathed.

A single beat passed over the family. Charity turned towards the husband she thought she killed. Fitch and Emille grabbed their children while backing towards the exit. Alex gaped as he looked between his should be dead brother and his soon to be dead wife. Tony’s face contorted in rage. Finally there was Helene clutching her axe as she moved towards the bride.

“I will not fail you again. The girl still dies” Helene screamed to Mr. Le Bail’s chair as she moved towards Grace.

Daniel’s heart raced as he moved his riffle from his father towards his aunt but before he could pull the trigger his vision was covered in blood and gore. Where aunt Helene had been was now a pile of scarlet tissue. Within the next minute Daniel, Alex, and Grace are covered in the blood, tissue, and bones of Fitch, Charity, Tony, Emillie, and the children. Daniel hears the sounds of his family’s bodies exploding along with the trill of Grace’s laughter. 

Daniel holds onto his riffle while suppressing a gag at the stench of his family’s remains. The room has gone from umber and evergreen to crimson. Grace’s back is suddenly pressing against his chest. Daniel feels her small hand clutching at his dress shirt.

“Grace wait baby please forgive me. I love you. I’m good baby. He’s sparing me because you made me good. You can’t leave me” Alex pleads manically as he stumbles towards the gore covered bride and Daniel. Daniel’s heart breaks for the thousandth time as he sees what his little Alex has become. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. Alex was the good one. Alex was the one who got out. But as Daniel saw the frantic desperation on Alex’s face he knew that the Le Domas curse had taken another soul.

Daniel watches his brother make his way towards them. He can’t help but reach towards him as Grace utters the final words Alex will ever here.

“Alex, I want a divorce” Grace states as she pulls off the Le Domas family ring off her finger.

Grace’s back is pressing hard into Daniel’s chest when it happens. The ring drops to the floor at the same time as the only person Daniel Le Domas has ever loved bursts in a sanguine mist. The world goes dark as Daniel begins to see burgundy flames spreading over his family’s remains. 

6) Out of the dark

Grace dragged Daniel Le Domas out of the burning mansion. When Mr. Le Bail himself appeared in his chair Grace had her arms underneath Daniel’s arms and was pulling him out of the bloody room. 

“Please” was the only word Grace could manage to get out.

Mr. Le Bail smirked and nodded towards the unlikely couple. Then he was gone.

Grace didn’t know if she just made a deal with the devil. But she did know the room was filling with smoke and sirens were wailing somewhere nearby. Maybe Justin had actually called the cops. Grace couldn’t help herself when she saw Becky’s cigarette case glinting amongst the blood. She might as well get one fucking thing out of this marriage.

“No one else is fucking dying” Grace growled as she grabbed ahold of Daniel and dragged the two of them out of the Le Domas family home and onto the stone steps of the lawn.

First responders rushed around Grace and the unconscious Daniel. She managed to light one of Becky’s cigarettes despite her ruined left hand and took a deep drag. Some man was talking to her. It didn’t matter. Nothing mattered now. 

The man wouldn’t stop talking and Grace finally heard “What happened here?”

“In-laws”

7) After

It had been a year after her wedding and the tragic fire at the Le Domas Mansion. It had been a year since Grace has witnessed the man she thought was the love of her life try to plunge a dagger into her chest. A year had passed since an unredeemable man had pulled Grace to safety and fought against Mr. Le Bail himself to save her. 

Despite the fire and the carnage Grace Le Domas had ended up a very wealthy woman. Tony and Becky Le Domas had left everything to their children which left Daniel and Grace as the sole heirs of the Le Domas gaming dominion. 

The late afternoon sun filled Grace’s apartment as she poured another glass of bourbon. Her therapist had warned her today would be hard. That the first anniversary of tragedies always dredged up painful feelings no matter how complicated the issue was. 

As Grace lifted the crystal glass to her lips she took in her surroundings. While the apartment was small the plants, art, and furniture made the place seem more like a home than she had ever had growing up. A black lacquered piano lingered in the corner of the room. Ivory roses stood in an indigo glass vase upon the piano. 

Grace closed her eyes and breathed in. One one thousand. Two one thousand. 

Warm arms encircled Grace from behind. A familiar scent of bourbon and pine filled her lungs. Grace opened her eyes and looked up at the man behind her. Dark curls framed a face lined from tragedy and alcohol abuse. Umber eyes softened at Grace as the man softly took Grace’s face into his left palm. The man slowly brought his lips to Grace’s and pressed ever so gently. 

“Do you wanna get takeout? I know today fucking sucks and I really think we should get hammered and watch whore island” Daniel says as he tenderly strokes Grace’s cheek with his thumb.

Grace can’t help but reach out to touch Daniel’s stubble covered chin and let out a small laugh.

“Only if you promise you’ll actually call it Bachelor in Paradise and not make fun of it the whole time” Grace replied.

“What if I make cocktails to go along with the takeout and only make fun of the ones that desperately want to be influencers?” Daniel asks as he moves to sit beside Grace on the linen couch.

“Wait that’s like literally the point of the show you old man” Grace teases as she intertwines her fingers with Daniel’s.

“Young lady I thought I told you to respect your elders” Daniel slurrs while taking a sip of bourbon.

“Okay how about you make cocktails, I’ll order takeout, and we’ll both make fun of their terrible extensions?” Grace asked.

“Deal Gracie Lou Who” Daniel stated as he plants a soft kiss on Grace’s cheek. 

Grace can see that Daniel’s eyes are rimmed with red. She knows that hers are too. They’re never going to be a normal couple. The tragedy of last year and the death of those they loved will always hang between or behind them. But sometimes when Daniel holds Grace like he’s never loved anyone before or when Daniel hears Grace singing in the shower, it seems like maybe everything is going to be okay. 

As Grace settles back into the couch holding the takeout box of red curry she sees Daniel walking over with a pair of black manhattans. One perk of living with a former alcoholic is that Daniel can make a mean cocktail. As Daniel settles in next to Grace on the couch she takes a moment to appreciate how much has changed in a year. The man besides her is dark not golden. There’s no pressure to be perfect and pure like there was with Alex. Instead Grace has found a companion that accepts her for the fuck up she is. 

“I love you Gracie” Daniel whispers into her ear as the intro to Bachelor in Paradise plays.


End file.
